Five Foods You Should Try in Japan

You’re reading this blog because you have some interest in Japan. As such, (I hope that) most of you will go to Japan someday, either for work or for pleasure. When you do, there are a lot of wonderful and surprising things waiting for you. Among them is a variety and quality of food that boggles the mind.

And you probably won’t have time to try everything, either (I lived there for 4 and a half years and still didn’t try everything!). So I’m writing this blog post to help you make sure you have your bases covered.

I won’t bother recommending things like sushi that I know you’re going to eat anyway. This list includes 5 foods that I suspect people might overlook, but which should not be missed.

1. Curry Rice (カレーライス)

Beef-katsu curry with cheese. (Price range: 600-1000 JPY)

I never had curry (of any kind) before going to Japan. Yep, 22 wasted years; sad, isn’t it? If you try nothing else on this list while you are in Japan, you absolutely MUST try Japanese curry and rice.

It has a rich, bold flavor, completely unique from any Indian or Thai curry, and is hands-down the most comforting and satisfying food I have ever had the joy of experiencing.

While curry can be found at many different restaurants (the flavor is always slightly different), I prefer the feisty yet smooth curry at the chain restaurant Coco Ichibanya, where you can customize your curry with different amounts of rice, different spice levels (hint: start with a 2 or 3 max. anything over 4 is nuclear), and a wide variety of toppings.

Coco Ichibanyas also are generally equipped with an English menu (you might have to ask for it), so you have absolutely no excuse not to try it. NONE!

2. Unagi (鰻)

Price range: 800-1800 JPY

Unagi is eel, and is considered something of a luxury dish in Japan. It has a very soft consistency, and is glazed in what my limited gastronomical vocabulary can only describe as a kind of teriyaki sauce.

Unagi-don (unagi served on bowl of rice) is probably the most common way you’ll see it served, but it’s also great as sushi (even on sushi, unagi is still cooked and glazed).

And note, even if you’ve had unagi in your home country in an Asian restaurant somewhere, I encourage you to try it in Japan again. In my experience unagi outside of Japan is comparatively disappointing.

3. Ramen

Tonkotsu ramen (Price range: 600-900 JPY)

Miso Ramen (Price range: 600-900 JPY)

When I first got to Japan, I was surprised by how many young Japanese told me their favorite food was ramen. I thought, “Really? That cheap, flavorless noodle in a bowl of salt water? You’ve got to be kidding me.” …then I tried Japanese ramen, and begged to be forgiven for the sin of ignorance.

Not only are the noodles and broth incalculably superior to Top Ramen and Maru-chan, Japanese ramen is loaded with goodies like bean strouts, bamboo shoots, beef and pork.

There is a variety of different flavors/styles you’ll find ramen in. Shoyu (醤油: soy sauce) ramen is the “basic” style. Tonkotsu (豚骨: pig bone) is flavored with pork and has an opaque white broth. My personal favorite is Miso (味噌) ramen (spicy if available).

4. Shabu-shabu

Shabu-shabu (Price range: 2000-4000 JPY per person)

Shabu-shabu is one of the “communal” foods in Japan, typically eaten by a group of people to mark some occasion or get-together (you won’t find anyone eating shabu-shabu alone).

Basically, the restaurant brings out very thin strips of beef and pork, and you cook them by boiling them in a pot of water provided at the table.

But this food is something of a mystery to me. The mystery being the question of why it’s so damn good. The meat? Looks like they didn’t do anything to it. The water? Looks like normal water. The dipping sauces? Good, but the meat still tastes good without it too. So WHY doesn’t it come out this way when I try it at home! Must be Japanese ninja magic or something.

Regardless, shabu-shabu is a great thing to try if you have the opportunity, but you might need a Japanese guide to pull this one off.

Update: Thanks to Bobby on Facebook, I now know that shabu-shabu is not typically boiled in plain water, but instead in a kind of light beef/chicken broth. Mystery solved!

5. coffee jelly (etc.)

Coffee Jelly (Price range: 200-600 JPY)

I know you’re gonna doubt me on this one. It just seems strange, doesn’t it? Coffee… Jelly. Well, that automatic suspicion is exactly why it’s on this list. Without the extra push, most of us gaijin would turn our noses up at this sort of food and walk away. It sounds neither Japanese nor appealing, so I don’t blame you. After all, it took me the better part of my 4.5 years there to finally take the plunge on this one.

I can’t really say if you’ll like it, but if you like coffee, there’s a good chance. I liked it (a lot). My point here is, Japan is full of seemingly “strange” flavor and food combinations, but if you take your chances in Japan you’ll find that a lot of them are actually really, really good.

If I were you, I would pick up a cheap coffee jelly at the very first convenience store I saw. Consider it an initiation or symbolic gesture that you’re ready to get out there and try new things. Japan is well known for dishes like sushi and tempura, but there are so many littler discoveries out there just waiting to entertain your taste buds. Embrace the spirit of exploration!

Honorable mention: Mos Burger

If you’re in Japan and craving some a burger, don’t go to McDonalds. You can do that back home. Go to Mos Burger. The burgers there run a premium (300-400 JPY), but that premium is easily justified by the freshest ingredients and best taste you’ll find in a fast-food burger. And look: the burger is put together presentably!

What do you recommend?

I know a lot of my blog readers have already been to Japan or are there right now. What food turned out to be better than you thought and what would you recommend to someone coming to Japan on vacation?

18 Responses

I never would have tried coffee jelly if it wasn’t served to me. It was otherworldly delicious. Vanilla ice cream is an essential part of it. Okonomiyaki definitely deserves mention. Also, Mos Burger is great food, but the classy thing about it is they give you a rubber coaster for your drink which you get to keep. It’s my favorite souvenir.

I am all about japanese curry, in my opinion it’s way better than the thai variety.

I’ve been to Nagoya a couple of months back, and I’d definitely recommend people to try their Kishimen dish! It’s their local specialty, and the sweet sake seasoning gives this dish character. You should try it sometime.

I’ve been to Hida-Takayama this april, and there you find lots of “Hida beef” on the menus. Most of the time it’s super expensive, but I still managed to taste a ramen with Hida beef (almost 2000Y) and it was… wow… best meat ever!! Then I tasted the brochette, then the gyudon… Not cheap but worth it. I didn’t taste kobe beef so I can’t compare.

I agree for adding okonomiyaki and takoyaki to the list, and maybe also tori karaage and melon pan !

Regarding Ramen, there is a big difference in flavor and it is not easy to find good ramen shop. (I would say only 1/10 provide good ramen. ) You can find good ones here. Good ramen shops over japan are gathering here.http://www.tokyoeki-1bangai.co.jp/en/

I think many of the dishes listed here above definitely deserve their place in the list.

To add to the “great classics” list I would also add monja-yaki, yakitori, all kinds of soba (including yakisoba) etc…

But I can’t agree with the comment above saying that 90% of the ramen is not good ! That’s what you can hear from some ramen extremists, but you can also find people saying that an apple is good only if it came from this or that breed of tree, grew in this or that area of Japan and costs at least 20 bucks…
Unless you are extremely picky, you can actually find very good ramen everywhere. Some are top good indeed, and some others are not especially good, but don’t listen to those saying that the average is crap

Note that I never intended this to be a definitive “best 5 foods” list (it would be foolish to attempt), it’s just a list of 5 foods that I didn’t want people to miss out on.

Regarding ramen, I agree with both comments. You will not really find bad ramen anywhere in Japan. Even the instant stuff is pretty good. But if you’re really into ramen, there is a big difference between good and exceptional (I wouldn’t call it a good vs. bad).

I’m not a connoisseur, but from what I gather “good” ramen is supposed to smell kind of BO. (If you walk into a ramen restaurant and are repulsed by the stench, rejoice! you’ve found the good stuff )

There are 14000 shops which provide Ramens in Tokyo.(according to the following links.)
And 10,212 out of 14000 are Chinese restaurants which are specialized in Chinese dishes (not Ramen). For these restaurants, Ramen is just a dish out of 100 other Chinese dishes(Chinese dishes must be good since they are Chinese restaurants). You can easily imagine these are just average Ramens.

Trust me that my openion “only 1/10 shops provide good/better Ramen” is just an common, average, normal opinion in Japan.(If I were a critic of Ramen, I would say 1/1000)
We want you people to enjoy good Ramens, that is why I posted the comment.

Coffee jelly etc is interesting! Of course, most gaijins think that Japanese foods are Sushi, Udon or Tempra. But many Japanese people don’t eat them much. I am not sure what is the best Japanese food. But humberg steak, fried shrimps, fried pork are the most popular JAPANESE FOOD. And about “Coffee Jelly”. Yes, Japanese people are good at creating a subtle development. Coffee Jelly is not so sophisticated one, I suppose. But there are hundreds of new snacks are born and died every year at any convenient store. This is a good observation from you.